Juggernaut
Juggernaut '('Colossus 'in the original game) is the Fifth stratum boss in Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard and its remake. He is fought on 23F (''A Crazed Black Beast). This creature is the Overlord's guardian, his last stand against the heroes. He is one of the Overlord's creations, and one of the strongest ones. He was living somewhere in the labyrinth, but was relocated by Overlord, in order to guard his castle, leading his army against the heroes. He is said to have been an veteran explorer when still human. In Story Mode, after listening to the party's desire to destroy the Calamity, the Overlord pits the party against the Juggernaut as a means for them to prove their strength, and to determine whether they are worthy to meet him. This absurdly powerful beast is possibly the strongest foe the heroes will face during their journey. This giant behemoth somewhat resembles a cross between a dragon and a bull, with red mane. big horns and spikes coming out of its body and a spiked tail. When attacking, he doesn't follow a real pattern, it simply goes berserk until nothing stands against it, which, not surprisingly, works extremely well. He can also reflect spells back to the caster and use a putrid breath attack. This is, truly, a formidable opponent. Colossus (Etrian Odyssey II) Using magic is effective but also risky if the Colossus happens to cast '''Barrier on itself on that turn-- it will inflict grave, likely fatal damage on the person who hit him. However, he will only use this move on turns after he has been hit with an elemental attack; thus, alternating between physical attacks (which, while inflicting much less damage, will not be countered by barrier) and elemental attacks, or simply remembering not to use elemental attacks two turns in a row, is an efficient strategy. Though it may seem like common sense to cast defensive buffs on your party, if you do this too much it will use Mad Rush, essentially a much stronger version of Destroy that will likely wipe out your whole team. Therefore, having a Hexer in your party to decrease its stats can be extremely helpful: The Colossus still suffers from a difference in stats, but isn't using Mad Rush since you party isn't buffed. Skills * Destroy (Uses Legs): Deals damage to all party members and decreases the defense. * Horns (Uses Head): Deals damage to one party member. * Brandish (Uses Head): Deals massive damage to one party member, splashes to neighboring party members. Has a chance of arm binding. * Mad Rush (Uses None): Deals insane amounts of damage to the entire party. Can easily kill the entire party in on hit. Is used more frequently if your party member are low on life or if you heavily buff your party. * Barrier (Uses None): Enters a counter stance in which it counters all elemental attacks. * Breath '''(Uses Head): Decreases the party's attack and can inflict blindness,poisoning or paralyzing. Used when Colossus's health drops by a certain amount. Drops * '''Guard Horn (Worth: 8010 en) * Guard Skin (Worth: 11200 en) * Red Spine (Worth: 30000 en) Conditional Drop * To obtain the Red Spine, you have to kill it with damage that isn't Bash, Pierce or Slash damage. Juggernaut (Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold) Colossus, renamed as Juggernaut, returns in the game's remake, keeping the same role as in the original game. Although you no longer need to deal with the Overlord's army before reaching the boss, Juggernaut is as powerful as ever, and is one of the strongest bosses in the game. Even on lower difficulties, this monster will pose a threat and its attacks will still deal high amounts of damage. Before facing him in combat, make sure to have means of dispelling enemy buffs, either by skills such as Ad Nihilo or by Metopon use. Items and skills that remove party-wide debuffs is extremely important as well. Before starting the fight, you will have to solve a puzzle where you lead several flying bombs into Juggernaut, each dealing a considerable amount of damage to him. Try to hit it with as many bombs as possible, as the boss has a massive amount of HP. Note that Juggernaut cannot be damaged from the front as it will simply crush the bomb rather than get hit by it. Once it gets hit once, it will begin pursuing the player, moving up to 3 squares per player step and potentially catching the player off-guard if they are positioned poorly. For each subsequent hit after that, it will move slower. After hitting it 5 times, Juggernaut will stop moving, and the bombs will stop spawning, giving you a chance to attack it from behind, granting your party a preemptive attack. You may also want to return to the light pillar in the floor's entrance to heal and save. Juggernaut opens the fight with Berserk Cry, and the entire fight revolves around it. This skill bestows a massive attack buff to all combatants. You must debuff him as soon as possible, as this skill gives a huge damage increase to Juggernaut. While it may seem useful to keep it active on your party for as long as possible, removing the buff from yourself on the right time is also important - reasons will be elaborated on later. Tusk Strike will pierce across your front and back row, dealing heavy damage. Putrid Breath will either poison or inflict blindness on the entire party. At the end of the turn where it takes elemental damage, it will use Reckless Barrier which will drastically raise its defenses for 5 turns, so if a party cannot repeatedly purge this debuff, it's best to stick to physical damage during the fight. However, there is a "cooldown" pertaining to how often it can use Reckless Barrier, so if the party has ways to remove defense buffs they can continue attacking with elements without worry about the buff being replaced too often. During the third turn after it used Berserk Cry, it will attack with Eradicate which can inflict bash damage to the whole party and cause a defense debuff. Juggernaut's most dangerous attack is King's Rush. This attack inflicts massive damage on the entire party, and WILL cause a game over if you either didn't remove the Berserk Cry buff of the boss or couldn't remove the Eradicate debuff in time. Even on standard difficulty without any buffs or debuffs, the damage is often lethal. At the end of the turn before this attack, if any buffs remain on the party, including Berserk Cry, Juggernaut will use Violent Cry, which removes the buffs of the entire party, so you can't rely on these to survive. While this attack is deadly, you can stop Juggernaut from using it by removing the all buffs from your party before he does. After you see Juggernaut use Eradicate, you have one more turn to finish removing all buffs from your party, so that Juggernaut will never use Violent Cry and subsequently never use King's Rush. You can remove buffs by using White Noble or similar skills, or the Unihorn item. Skills * Berserk Cry (Uses Head): Raises all combatant's offenses for 5 turns. * Reckless Barrier (Uses Head): Increases Juggernaut's defenses for 5 turns. Used at the end of the turn where it took elemental damage. * Brandish (Uses Head): Melee bash attack with splash effect. May bind arms. * Tusk Strike (Uses Head): Line-piercing stab attack. * Eradicate (Uses Legs): Deals bash damage to the entire party and reduces their defenses for 3 turns. Used on the third turn after Berserk Cry was used. * Putrid Breath (Uses Head): Inflicts poison or blind on the entire party. * Violent Cry (Uses Head): Removes the buffs of the entire party. Used only if at least 1 member still has buffs active, 4 turns after Berserk Cry was used. * King's Rush (Uses Legs): Melee bash attack to the entire party, may inflict head/arm/leg bind. Used only if Violent Cry was performed the previous turn. Drops * Guardian Skin (Worth: 8700 en) * None. * Sky Metal Tail (Worth: 17500 en) ** Selling that to the shop unlocks the Sky Metal Mail, the strongest armor for the Ronin. Conditional Drop * In order to get Juggernaut's conditional drop, the Sky Metal Tail, you must kill the boss while his legs are bound. Juggernaut (Etrian Odyssey Nexus) The Juggernaut presents itself as a postgame boss located at the end of the Illusory Woods. Despite being available as soon as the postgame commences, it is recommended the player challenges it with a party at least level 110. Like before, the Juggernaut reacts poorly to the player having too many buffs. If it notices the player's kept at least 6 buffs on the party, it will erase them with Violent Cry, and then proceed to use King's Rush the following turn. This is very likely to cause a total party kill, or at least leave them severely bound. Unlike in The Fafnir Knight it uses this check outside of its AI pattern, and it has an odd behaviour to boot: the moment the party begins the turn with at least 7 buffs on them, an invisible 3-turn timer ticks down, upon which the Juggernaut will use Violent Cry if the party still has too many buffs. If the player has purged enough buffs or has let them expire, the Juggernaut will cast Putrid Breath instead of Violent Cry. Given the alternative, it's a great breather to experience Putrid Breath. Otherwise, its attack pattern is rather rigid, involving 4 attacks before an Eradicate every 5th turn, and adding new attacks to subsequent loops regardless of its HP. Eradicate is a strong party-wide attack that leaves a defense debuff behind - be sure to have your party well prepared for this every 5 turns. At first, it alternates a normal attack and Brandish, which does splash damage and can bind arms. After the first Eradicate, it will alternate normal attacks and Tusk Strike, which pierces lines. After the second Eradicate, it adds Putrid Breath to the mix. Past the third Eradicate, it randomly chooses between Brandish, Tusk Strike, and Putrid Breath, though it will not use the same skill twice in a row. As the Juggernaut falls to 30% or lower HP, it starts using Berserk Cry which creates a large attack boost for both itself and the party. This is particularly dangerous, as not only does the Juggernaut get even stronger, but it is likely to set off the Violent Cry timer and cause a King's Rush if the player is inattentive. If, at the end of turn, the Juggernaut took any elemental damage, it will respond with Reckless Barrier to raise its elemental defense. This cannot be cast in succession, so you can safely pile on elemental damage after purging the buff. As a majority of the fight involves juggling buffs and debuffs, pack plenty of Unihorns or bring a Sovereign. Negotiate and Clearance will become invaluable in this fight as it easily mops up the Eradicate debuff and keeps the party from King's Rush. A Harbinger can prove to be a valuable party member as their debuffs can shift the tempo of the fight in the player's favour without triggering King's Rush. Skills * Berserk Cry (Uses Head): Raises all combatant's offenses for 5 turns. * Reckless Barrier (Uses Head): Increases Juggernaut's defenses for 5 turns. Used at the end of the turn where it took elemental damage. * Brandish (Uses Head): Melee bash attack with splash effect. May bind arms. * Tusk Strike (Uses Head): Line-piercing stab attack. * Eradicate (Uses Legs): Deals bash damage to the entire party and reduces their defenses for 3 turns. * Putrid Breath (Uses Head): Reduces the party's accuracy for 3 turns, and may inflict paralyze, blind, or poison. * Violent Cry (Uses Head): Ranged weak almighty attack to the entire party, purges buffs. * King's Rush (Uses Legs): Melee bash attack to the entire party, may inflict head/arm/leg bind. Used only if Violent Cry was performed the previous turn. Drops *'Guardian Skin' ** Selling this to the shop unlocks the Demon Mail (111 DEF, 76 MDF, AGI +15), the best armor for Landsknechts. *'Sky Metal Tail (Conditional)' ** Selling this to the shop unlocks the Sky Metal Mail (90 DEF, 92 MDF, STR +10), the best armor for Ronin. Conditional Drop To obtain the Sky Metal Tail, kill the Juggernaut while its legs are bound. Trivia * A popular fan theory from Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard is that the Juggernaut was, at one point, Hrothgar of Guild Beowulf - this was implied by the similar hairstyle of the two and Juggernaut's impressive natural defenses. This theory was disproved in Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight, as Hrothgar can survive his initial battle with Chimaera in Story Mode. * Before EO2's Untold remake, the Juggernaut was speculated to have been one of the Overlord's closest friends. Category:Etrian Odyssey II Bosses Category:Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold Bosses Category:Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold Monsters Category:Etrian Odyssey II Monsters Category:Etrian Odyssey Nexus Monsters Category:Etrian Odyssey Nexus Bosses